This thesis examines the public attitude toward the forests in towns. The author researches the frequency and the reasons for visiting forests with a public survey among the visitors of the forests of Rožnik Hill (R) and GolovecHill (G) in Ljubljana. She examines how recognizable the Slovenia Forest Service is, the appropriateness of indications of forest works and the attitude towards coarse woody debris in forests. The purpose of this thesis was to find out the opinion of the surveyees about forest management, the forest ownership regulation, logging in these forests and about general feeling of visitors when they visit the forests. The survey (nonprobability sampling) was conducted in two parts, the first being a mass recreational event and the second an online survey. The survey was filled in by 788 surveyees in total, 555 of them being visitors of forests on Rožnik Hill and 349 of Golovec Hill. The results show that most of the surveyees (66.3%) walk through the forest at least once a week. The leading reason for that are recreational activities (walking, jogging, and cycling). It is followed by relaxation after a hard day's work, walking the dog and retreat from people and bustling towns. The majority of the surveyees who visited the forests (R -69.2%, G - 67.0%) are relatively satisfied with the forest management. They are mostly disturbed by littering, destroyed benches and sign posts and coarsewoody debris and damaged trees. The majority (R - 40.7%, G - 35.0%) saidthat the forest parcels should be bought or rented by the municipality, and here the share is different depending on the location (bigger share on Rožnik Hill). Most of the surveyees (R - 87.0%, G - 86.7%) agree with occasional logging in these forests. Most of the surveyees (R - 77.5%, G - 74.4%) feel safe in the forests of Rožnik and Golovec Hill.
|